Product Description
“A compelling account . . . and a reminder that a true peace can be built only on justice.”—Desmond M. TutuTending one’s fields, visiting a relative, going to the hospital: for ordinary Palestinians, such activities require negotiating permits and passes, curfews and closures, “sterile roads” and “seam zones”—bureaucratic hurdles ultimately as deadly as outright military incursion. In Palestine Inside Out, Saree Makdisi draws on eye-opening statistics, academic histories, UN reports, and contemporary journalism to reveal how the “peace process” institutionalized Palestinians’ loss of control over their inner and outer lives—and argues powerfully and convincingly for a one-state solution. 33 photographs and 12 maps ... Read more

Customer Reviews (20)

Twisted history and an old proposal
The author writes a lenghty book about the history of the conflict from an extremely one-sided viewpoint and then tries to sell the good old "one state" solution.

The author seems to think that the two state solution doesn't do Palestinians any favors. He favors one state with a majority of Arabs and minority of Jews living in "secular democracy." This solution addresses the concerns of Palestinians while completely ignoring the rights and aspirations of Israeli Jews.

Jews have never been able to live peacefully as a minorty among Arabs or Muslims. History has shown that. The inability of Arabs to get along with Jews is the very reason Palestine was partitioned in the first place.

The author also ignores the fact that Israel is already a party to the "secular democracy" he advocates and the the Palestinian Authority is practicing apartheid against it's own minority community: Christians.

The author then acknowledges that foreign troops may be necessary to protect the Jewish population of a "secular democracy" in Palestine. If he knowns they would need protection, then why does he think this is any solution to the Arab-Israeli conflict?

Palestine Inside Out - Insightful!
UCLA tenured English/Comp Lit Professor, Saree Makdisi, presents an incredibly well-written, well documented account of Palestinian life in the occupied territories of Israel.It's an easy read with none of the rhetorical rants of some other authors on the topic.He presents accounts of real Palestinians' experiences, followed by well-annotated facts to support the reasons those accounts represent the experiences of many other Palestinians in Israel, but it is all presented in a writing style that is engaging and easy to understand (even though it is hard for me to comprehend how these events could unfold in any developed country with Western ties in this day and age).The historic timelines that are woven in, along with supportive maps and ample quotes from Israeli and diverse international political figures, not only deepen the reader's knowledge of what has led to many of the present day issues, but it also begs the question of how long Israel's present policies toward the general (non-terrorist) Palestinians in occupied territories can go on without evoking a crippling international political and economic backlash against Israel because of these policies.If you want to begin, or even deepen your understanding of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and of the basis for the emerging international sentiment against Israel's policies, I highly recommend this book as a 'must read.'

For those who thought they understood
Saree Makdisi's book is meant to be accessible.It is intended to start with mundane yet harsh realities of occupation that readers might at first ascribe to Israeli bureaucratic indifference and excessive concern for security.Bit by bit, however, the reader discovers that the imposed misery is actually part of a systematic plan for the destruction of Palestinian society.By the end of the book, Makdisi has demonstrated that the plan began long before the establishment of the state of Israel, and has proceeded methodically to the present, with the complicity of the United States and other backers.

Along the route, the reader will be astonished at her own reaction, from irritation to indignation to anger and fury, and finally a compulsion to act against the injustice.That is the author's plan, and it works well for the most part.If there is one book about Palestine that policy makers and staff should read, this is probably it.

The book is not without its flaws, however.One is that the author's illustrative use of personal stories is highly effective, but diminishes progressively throughout the book.It should have been maintained, even at the cost of lengthening the book.

Of equal concern is the author's syntax.Unfortunately, parenthetical remarks - often with multiple embeddings of phrases, or in serial succession, with the subject and the verb separated by considerable content - are far too common.(The preceding sentence is a mild example of such.)Unfortunately, this style slows the reading and makes it less accessible than the author intended.Fortunately, the author's other writing skills compensate for this flaw, making the work still one of the more readable ones on the topic.

There is little that is new for those who have been active in the Palestinian human rights movement, but this book is meant for a wider audience that is still trying to understand.Nevertheless, the presentation of facts, arguments and stories, is eye-opening, to the extent that even the veteran Haaretz reporter Gideon Levy was compelled to say, "Palestine Inside Out is a moving and thought-provoking account of Palestinian daily life under the occupation.After twenty years of covering the conflict I still found myself shocked."Gideon speaks for me, as well.

Excellent piece of work
Saree Makdisi has done an outstanding job in telling the whole world what is really going on in the Middle East contrary to what we normally read in the newspapers and what the T.V. tells us on a daily basis. I have read a few books before on this subject like; "Beyond Chutzpah" (beyond insolence) by Norman G. Finkelstein, "The Ethnic cleansing of Palestine" by Ilan Pappe, "The Case Against Israel" by Michael Newmann and a few more. All these authors are Jewish but they have a heart for the suffering of the Palestinian people who have been displaced from their homeland.
There are more than 4 million refugee Palestinian people living in the surrounding countries like Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan and the ones who never left are experiencing the most diabolical maquiavelian, brutal occupation in ther hands of Israel thanks to our corrupt Congress and high ranking officials.

A factual milestone of articulate perspective from a Palestinian-American
If one has an interest in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and how it can ever be resolved, that person will find once he/she starts reading this book, she/he cannot put it down.Makdisi does a very good job expressing the torment and tribulation these people have suffered and continue to suffer, even more, at the hands of a cruel Israel.The ultimate goals and objectives of the Zionist regime become painfully clear to the reader, just from reading the unfiltered revelations of the chain of events, locally and regionally, whichexplain what life is like under Zionism for these natives.

Makdisi also provides statistics.Lots and lots of them. His command of the English language is better than most native American writers, as he is an English professor. His research and first hand accounts are authentic.

Makdisi's account of the Gaza massacre, what led up to it, and what followed, gives us insight into the Israeli-Western "soft" genocidestrategy against these people, that the media would not dare reveal.

The frivolous mantra of "two state solution" is easily seen as just thatby the end of this book, and a dream from which we will never be awakened to see, not as a sovereign country, because the Israeli Zionists will never let it happen. Makdisi tells the REAL story of what happened in Gaza over the last several years, the stories we never got from the news media.

At the end, Makdisi explains the only real solution is the end of the "Jewish State" as we know it, replaced by a truly secularly democratic Israeli government that ensures everyone has the same rights, Jews and non-Jews, equally. ... Read more

Product Description

This concise and comprehensive survey presents balanced, impartial, and well-illustrated coverage of the history of the Arab-Israeli conflict. The authors identify and examine the issues and themes that have characterized and defined the conflict over the past century. The Sixth Edition examines many of the developments that have occurred during the first decade of the 21st century.

Customer Reviews (3)

Slow Shipping
It has been one month since I ordered this book and have not yet received it.

A very reliable history
As an adjunct professor of international affairs at a top-tier university, I have used History of the Arab-Israeli Conflict by Ian Bickerton and Carla Klausner for several years and through several of its recent editions. When I began teaching this class, after many years of writing editorials on the conflict for two major American newspapers and several reporting trips to the region, I was looking for a book that brought together the essential documents regarding the founding of the state of Israel in 1948 and the period since.
So many times, people have made up their minds as to which side -- Israeli, Arab -- is the blame for the entire situation. Some automaticlaly blame Israel; others criticize the Arab states and the Palestinians.
For my purposes, that was much too simplistic an approach. I wanted students to read and understand the historical narrative of this conflict. I wanted them to read the documents from the United Nations, the Arab League, the Israeli governnment and so on so they could gain a useful appreciation of the complexity of this situation today.
This text does the trick. It is balanced, and that is why I find it so helpful.
I ask my students at the beginning of each semester to examine their own thoughts as to which parties they believe are to blame for the conflict. Then, as we are wrapping up the course, I ask them to revisit that question.
My goal is to help them understand as completely as possible how complicated this conflict is and why.
The Bickerton-Klausner text does an excellent job simply because it refuses to assign blame to one side or the other, which is exactly what I wanted to get away from in my course. There is enough blame to go around quite sufficiently.
Even though there are other texts out now that appear to mimic this approach, I shall continue to use this text. It is invaluable for me.


Repps Hudson
University City, MO

Good background for starting discussions on the conflict
"History of the Arab-Israeli" conflict appears to be a balanced primer into the Arab-Israeli conflict.One strength of the book are the relevant documents presented at the end of each chapter.The book concentrates more on breadth than depth, but each chapter also ends with a list of references for further reading, for those who wish to learn more details about a particular issue.

This is an educational textbook.However, it can serve as background material for anybody or any group that wishes to become more knowledgeable about the topic and who wish to examine the topics further through classroom or private discussion.

The book attempts to maintain a balanced perspective without favoring either the Arab or Israeli point of view.Hence, those who are pre-disposed to favoring one side or the other are bound to find the book "biased" or "incomplete", or perhaps "mixing lies with truth" which was a title of one of the reviews for the 4th Edition.Because the text only covers the issues in general terms, without going into too much detail, it is hard to say who is correct--the book, trying to remain imparital, or partisans on one side or the other.

Overall, I would recommend this book as a useful introduction to the Arab-Israel Conflict for those who are not already knowledgeable, who seek to learn more about the issues in the conflict. ... Read more

Product Description
Palestine: A Guide is an insider's look at where, and how, Palestinians live today. This remarkable tour through the historic Palestinian homeland is guided by some of the country's most gifted writers, journalists, academics and photographers.

Intimate and honest, this guidebook offers an insider's key to understanding the Palestinians and their relationship to their homeland, past and present. Explore the monuments of the past, as well as the vibrant towns, cities, hamlets and refugee camps of an emerging nation. Palestine: A Guide offers the visitor an authentic vision of why, despite lacking legal status as a state, Palestine is a real place on the world map. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (6)

Wonderful Guide!
This guide gives an honest look at travel through Israel and the West Bank for those seeking to learn about the culture, homeland, and people of Palestine.

An excellent guidebook
This book was a wonderful asset during our visit to Palestine. It provided a needed historical/cultural background in a setting where history is being brutally erased by colonial powers and difficult to find. It is well documented and beautifully illustrated, I strongly recommend it!

Excellent guide
This was an excellent guide to Palestinian culture during our travels to Palestine this summer. I highly recommend it for travel or for insight into Palestinian culture.

Curiously Delluded
Shahin, as expounded by Daniel Pipes, described as journalist and author, has written a most curious guidebook. The genre normally aspires to help the traveler find his way, but this one has the grander aspiration to "search for all things Palestinian--past and present--in historic Palestine." In other words, its goal is political, not touristic. The guidebook dimension is nominal with no street addresses, much less opening and closing hours, evaluations of hotels and restaurants, or other practical advice.

Perhaps the book's strangest aspect is the pretense that Israel does not exist--symbolically eliminating the Jewish state in anticipation of the PLO, Hamas, and Palestinian Islamic Jihad actually doing so. Thus, Jaffa fills up a chapter of twenty pages while the vastly larger city of Tel Aviv is barely mentioned, and then through gritted teeth. On the other hand, what Shahin refers to as the "massive and horrific" Wall (always with a capital "W") has a chapter of its own.

Conceptualized as a propaganda tool, the guidebook contains more than its share of inaccuracies. The first page falsely informs that "Palestine is a Holy Land to Muslims." The assertion that "archeologists have yet to verify the historic existence" of the Temple of Solomon is laughable nonsense. And Lord Balfour was hardly "of Jewish descent."

More surprising are the candid assertions that spring up between the tired anti-Zionist tropes. Palestinians are said to include Jews as well as Muslims and Christians, a rare inclusion. The comparison of Palestinians in Jordan to Jews in the United States got me thinking. "Many Lebanese blamed the PLO and its policies for the destruction of their country" must have slipped in when someone was not looking. And one sentence required three readings before I could believe my eyes, stating that the Arab population of Palestine grew in the 1930s partly because "the British and Jewish capital infusion to the country created jobs." That's a thesis, first articulated by Joan Peters (and forwarded in the Middle East Quarterly by Fred Gottheil) that anti-Zionist elements vehemently deny.

As I say, it's a curiosity, an artifact unique to the Arab-Israeli conflict.

A world without Jews
For those who wish for a world without Israel or Jews, this is the guide for you. All the land between the Jordan River and Med. Sea is called Palestine, in effect wiping Israel off the map. Iran would be proud! ... Read more

Product Description
Healing Israel/Palestine shows that it is possible to be both pro-Israel and pro-Palestine, and provides a clear blueprint for a peace settlement. Unequivocally opposed to war-makers and terrorists, Rabbi Michael Lerner asserts that a spiritual and progressive perspective, rooted in the highest values of the human race, is crucial. Perfect for individuals, discussion groups, and organizations, this book answers difficult philosophical and political questions that emerge when advocating peace and justice in the Middle East. It includes extensive historical information with a focus on current events, photographs, and detailed political maps of the region. An appendix provides resources for readers interested in activism. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Interesting but probably won't work
One thing one always notices about this conflict is that whose side one is on depends upon how far back in history one goes before starting the narrative.The author goes back and writes the history with understanding for both sides.Some of this is not exactly as I remember it, but I was reading news back here in the US, not participating in it.As I remember it, the people in the area, with the help of the UN wrested a sliver of a nation from the British occupiers and were immediately attacked by the Arabs.See what I mean?

This is why we MUST convince the warring parties to IGNORE the past.Each side has wronged the other too often to make any progress if they look backward.Each must present a vision for the future and negotiate only on that.Rabbi Lerner seems to think that protests can be done nonviolently.A big problem is how often non violence is met with violence.But this is a direction the parties must try to go.

Cross your fingers and, if you are inclined that way, pray for George Mitchell.

Interesting philosophy, but completely removed from reality
Lerner presents a utopian view of the Israeli/Arab conflict. It might make for feel-good philosophy, but has nothing to do with reality. The Israeli/Arab conflict is not one of "criminals" but a religious and national war. If everyone was as sane as Lerner proposes, we would never have gotten to this point. The Arabs opposed the establishment of Israel in 1948, and continued to oppose Israel to this day. Arabs controlled the West Bank and Gaza until 1967, yet they never established a Palestinian country there, and continued to attack Israel and try to destroy her. The war against Israel and the Jewish right to self determination is, and has always been, a religious Jihad against "infidels." As such, it cannot be reasoned with. Lerner presents an American, Western, idealistic, "progressive" utopian vision. It is utter nonsense. Don't waste your time or money on it - you will learn nothing useful, only mumbo-jumbo. Pretending that we all can "just get along" is not only wishful thinking, it also subscribes to the idea that truth is relative, righteousness is relative, and that all sides are equally correct. In my opinion, this is dangerous talk. Terrorists are not common criminals - they are much worse. And there is never, ever, ever any excuse for blowing up children on buses and in restaurants. And self defense against hostility and terrorism is not the same as aggression targetted at innocent civilians. This is the kind of nonsense that got us to this point in the first place.

How to make peace in the world
A thoughtful analysis of the Israeli/Palestinian situation, with some concrete suggestions and affirmations about the way to achieve peace in that land.From the first, Lerher strongly affirms that he is not anti-Palestinian, nor anti-Israeli; the purpose of the book, and indeed of the Tikkun Community which he represents, is to show how it is possible to be both pro-Israel and pro-Palestine.

The main recommendation that Lerner has is one which really strikes the reader as illogical at first, though on thinking it through it becomes obvious that it is, in my opinion, the only possible real resolution to the situation.That recommendation ~ stronger than a recommendation really, an urging, a plea ~ is for non-violence; not just the absence of violence, but as an active means for change, as Mahatma Gandhi used it, or Martin Luther King, Jr.Lerner envisions this non-violence being used, first, by the Palestinians; this will have several results, all good.First,and most important, it will, eventually, work to convince the majority of Israelis who are open to conviction that they do not have anything to fear from the Palestinians, despite the Occupation of their land and the violence practised against them by the Israeli state.Second, it will have the effect of ostracising the minority of Palestinians who are wedded to violence as a way of life ~ or death ~ and make it clear again that they, and their trainers, are nothing more than common criminals, to be punished as such.A third result, stemming from the first, and Lerner's plea for the Israelis, is that Israel will be freed to pull back from the Occupation, the holding of the territories taken from the Palestinians during and since the Six Day War, in 1967.

This pulled-back position is what Tikkun envisions as the final, peaceful solution:Israel no longer occupying any of the land left to the Palestinians in 1948; Palestine as a fully functioning nation; neither permitting nor sponsoring violence against the other; both committed to living in peace and, perhaps even, harmony.Lerner is certainly not naïve enough to think that this result can occur with anything less than full commitment from both sides, and from others in the world too, most especially the United States of America.To aid in the attempt at rousing people to that full commitment to peace necessary for success, he includes a final section to the book, a series of questions that may well be asked ~ have been asked ~ by those unsure about the process, or the result, or the commitment.These questions and answers are perhaps the most valuable part of the book, in that they take away a lot of possible reasons for not acting; if you are not going to support the peace process with Tikkun you are going to have to come up with some other reasons why than the usual:The usual have been answered.

The other fascinating section is the first part of the book.In it, Lerner retells the story of Zionism and the settling of Palestine by Jews without making good guys or bad of either side.He asserts several times, that such a telling of history, without blame and making demons of the other side, is the prerequesite for any possible peace process.

Any possible peace process, i repeat, because it is quite clear that the programme laid out here is adaptable to any and all conflicts within the world ~ Kashmir, Congo, Iraq, the USA against the World ~ in all of them the first step towards true peace is a beginning of an understanding of the Other; the second is a complete commitment to non-violence as a means of conflict resolution.

Questions or doubts still may be harboured about the viability of Tikkun's programme; i confess that i am largely convinced through Lerner's writing. ... Read more

Product Description

In this second edition of The Israel/Palestine Question, Ilan Pappé showcases some of the most recent areas of scholarly interest in the history of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Including only works which challenge previous conceptions and paradigms, Ilan Pappé emphasizes a number of recent developments in the conventional historiography.

All the chapters in this edition are written by Israeli or Palestinian scholars, illustrating how much the desire to revisit the history of the conflict comes from historians belonging to the conflicting parties. The book also presents work influenced by wider historiographical developments, for instance the current interdisciplinary drive, as well as a sceptical view of elite historical narratives and the rise of non-elite history.

This edition includes:

• revisionist views on the formation of Palestine
• revised sections on the history of the 1948 war and the experiences of Palestinians in Israel
• a new section on women’s history.

With a fully updated introduction, Ilan Pappé's timely anthology is a stimulating guide to the complex history and politics of the Middle East.

Customer Reviews (4)

Book Review
This book consists ofa collection of works (articles) written by Palestinian authors regarding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.It is a historiographical work and introduces works that have been written regarding the conflict since 1948.It adds incite into various issues that are recently being brought to light regarding the conflict and issues that have been previously explored.This scholarly edition adds to the ever growing understanding of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict since 1948.

Au Contraire!
I strongly recommend this book for all who approach life with open mind and the heart of a student.I suspect the "Shalom Freedom" commentator does not fall under that category.

There is an old Middle-Eastern saying:"One can learn a lot about a person by looking at his enemies."If Ilan Pappe's work is attacked because it takes a far more nuanced view of the bloody conflict between Palestinians and Israel, then that reason by itself warrants the study of its content.After reading this book, I wonder if some Israelies would still be so dismissive of political equality for Palestinians if it was the Palestinians who had the guns and the military might that Israel enjoys today.Please read this book even if you have already made up your mind about what you think it proposes.

How low can you go
The editor of this volume Ilan Pappe has devoted his academic career to deligitimizing the state in which he lives and works. He has slandered Israelat every possible opportunity, always denying and covering up the basic truth that the source of the conflict between Israelis and Arabs has always been the refusal of the Arabs to live in peace with a Jewish state, even in a small part of the Holy Land. Pappe ignores the daily propaganda of the Palestinians, the hatefilled rhetoric that has accompanied the conflict from its outset. Even more importantly
all his retellings ignore the part the Palestinians, and the Arab states have played in initiating aggression against Israel.
Pappe is a low- grade propagandist and Benedict Arnold.
Who reads him reads misinformation only.

the usual Israel-hating fiction
The ultimate extremist. The amazing part is that 'fredom of speech' is so strongly valued in Israel that this man, who has stated his goal is to end Israel as a nation, is a tenured professor at an Israeli university and currently collects a full pension after taking a post-retirement job in England.Salary double-dipping.

Anyway, if you like Noam Chomsky you will also enjoy Pappe. ... Read more

Product Description
In the encounter with Hellenism which confronted the Jews of Palestine in the form of Greek, Roman and finally Christian supremacy, a Judaism developed which had far outgrown its biblical origins and which was to influence the history of Europe from the Middle Ages to the present day.
The History of the Jews in Antiquity examines the political history of the Jewish people in Palestine in terms of political activity and more particularly social, economics and religious circumstances. The Jews of antiquity are presented as both the subject and the object of history as they attempt to achieve their political and social goals in a variety of changing circumstances.
The period chosen for this study is that represented by the global domination of Hellenism, from the conquest of Palestine by Alexander the Great in the second half of the fourth century BCE until the seizure of the land by the Arabs in the seventh century CE. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Peter Schafer's insight
Peter Schafer's "History of the Jews in Antiquity" combines a succinct narrative of the period reported by Flavius Josesphus in his histories "Antiquities of the Jews" and "The Jewish War" with extra insight from wider sources. I'd been struggling with the common translation of Josephus' works, William Whiston's 18th century work, and found Schafer's modern text clearer and easier to understand. Though written in German, the English translationbears no awkwardness of the movement from the original to English.

Schafer, a German scholar now on the faculty at Princeton Theological Seminary, draws on rabbinical writings and other souorces to expand and improve on the accuracy of Josephus' history. From Schafer, I have a better understanding of the differences between Saduccees and Pharisees as well as the impact of Greek culture on the people of Palestine, as he describes the region comprising Judea and the other territories of the Middle East ruled variously by Greeks, Jews, Egyptians, and Romans. Until I read his book, I'd no idea that Palestine remained in violent turmoil from the Maccabean rebellion through the Roman destruction of Jerusalem.

I read this as a Christian who's been working at understanding why people listened to Jesus' message of peace and love. Schafer makes it clear that Jewish society split between those who adapted Greek ways and those who eschewed them, that the former tended to be wealthy urban dwellers and the latter, rural poor. Piety, he explains, came to be associated with poverty and wealth with decadence. Temple high priests were just as embroiled in poower politics as kings were. In this time, the Greek ideal of Achilles established the image of a powerful man, the opposite of the teachings of John and then Jesus.

... Read more

Product Description

Customer Reviews (3)

Disappointment
It's a pity one cannot find a really objective book about the conflict between Israel and its Arab Muslim neighbours. For a moment I thought that I found one but I was wrong: the victimhood complex permeates the book and nowhere could I find anything about Palestinians working, creating or building a better life for themselves.

Israel was built with the help of the international Jewish community. Why can't the "oil filled" Arab Muslim nations provide their brothers with a similar support? The book did not touch, explain or clarify this topic. Pity!

Difficult truth-telling
As an American Jew who just spent 6 months in Israel, this was a difficult and important book for me to read. The author writes of first-hand experience in the Israeli peace movement, and the challenging relationships between people on both sides of the Green Line. No one comes off looking perfect - not Israelis or Palestinians, right-wing or left-wing - but all the actors are flawed in one way or another, product of a terrible history. The book gave me hope that human beings can mend long-standing conflict, even if imperfectly and slowly. The story is, of necessity, biased, as it tells of one man's personal experiences, but still worth reading.

Dark Hope towards Enlightenment
Extremely well-written account of Israeli peace activists working to bring a bit of justice to the day to day lives of Palestineans under the Occupation.

Reveals a glimpse of the future in the fraternal interactions and warm personal relations that develop between Palestineans and Israelis when the task is to clear a roadblock, bring blankets to a village or harvest a crop faced with hostile settlers.

A great read. ... Read more

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Customer Reviews (4)

Another Amazing Book by Jonathan Cook
If you want to understand, truly understand, what is going on inside Israel and what life is truly like for Palestinian citizens of Israel, you shoud read this book.NO one understands the intricacies of the Israeli's government's systematic and institutionalized discrimination against its Palestinian citizens like Mr. Cook.

Powerful journalism
Mr. Cook starts off the book by examining the foundations of the Jewish state.750,000 Palestinians fled their homes in 1948 because of ethnic cleansing by Israel. Cook notes that this ethnic cleansing plan, "Plan Dalet" was approved by the Zionist leadership in Tel Aviv in March 1948. Both sides committed atrocities in the 1948 conflict but the Zionists committed several dozen massacres at minimum. Cook writes that the Deir Yessin massacre did not actually kill 250 Arabs but around 100 and that Begin exaggerated the number killed so as to sow terror in Palestinians.. Cook notes that, in the midst of the ethnic cleansing of Lydd and Ramla, forces under the command of Yigal Allon and Yitzhak Rabin massacred about 170 Palestinian males who had taken shelter in the Dahamish mosque in Lydd. Thousands of Israeli Arabs were quietly expelled from their homes in the 1948-56 period. Cook writes that an attempt to create a pretext to expel the Israeli Arab inhabitants of the Iron Triangle, called Operation Hafarferet,had to be called off after the massacre of 47 Israeli Arabs by the Israeli border police at Kafr Qassem.

Israeli Arabs, i.e. non-Jews, make up a fifth of Israel's citizenry. Yet non-Jews are effectively excluded from owning or receiving leases on 93 percent of the land within Israel's pre-1967 borders. They are barred from many job categories because of Jewish racism and numerous barriers limit their access to higher education. Israeli Arabs are forced to use the vast majority of the land allotted to them for residential purposes. They have very little access to land to build new housing or start new businesses--Israeli local and regional government planning bodies make sure that they do not. . Israeli Arabs have the right to vote and Cook extensively discusses the fear of Israeli elites that their high birthrate might lead them to use the ballot box to overturn the racist foundations of the Israeli state. Cook quotes an article from one of Israel's leading newspapers, Ma'ariv, in early 2007 which reported that Prime Minister Olmert discussed with Shin Bet officials the need to target Israeli Arab leaders and organizations that engage in the "subversion" of advocating the elimination of Israel as a Jewish supremacist state.

Cook notes that all Israeli policy in the occupied territories since 1967 can be explained by the desire to make life so miserable for Palestinians, killing them and destroying their economic existence, that they will gradually leave the territories and Jews can take all the land.He quotes Moshe Dayan privately explaining in the 1970's that Palestinians would be made to live "like dogs" and hopefully they would be encouraged to leave the occupied territories. Israel refused to allow the Palestinian economy to develop after 1967. Large amounts of Palestinian land were confiscated, including communal farm land. Cook notes that the Swedish branch of Save the Children reported that 10,000 children suffered broken bones caused by Israeli soldiers in the first two years of the first Intifada. In 1988, a prominent settler leader named Pinchas Wallerstein chased around some Palestinian children with a firearm, killing one and wounding another. Cooks notes that Wallerstein said he was not exercising self-defense but attempting to teach the children about the supremacy of Jewish authority in the holy land. He was sentenced to 4 months community service. Similarly, in 2002, as the Israeli army looked on, Jewish settlers attacked the West Bank village of Yanun, forcing the inhabitants to flee as they fired on homes, poisoned the village wells and killed the villagers' livestock. The settlers often have carte blanche to engage in racist terror against Palestinians.

Cook quotes from a report authored by an Israeli defense ministry advisor, General Baruch Spiegel, in 2005. The Speigel report stated that a third of the 120 Israeli settlements in the West Bank were on land that was confiscated from Palestinian landowners in the following manner. The Israeli army would seize the land for "security" purposes and then quietly hand off the land for settlement to civilian Israeli settlers, not uncommonly religious fascists. The number of Israeli settlers during the Oslo "peace process" (1993-2000) doubled in the occupied territories, as Yasser Arafat's clique enriched themselves policing Palestinian population centers. The US and successive Israeli governments pretended that they were making substantial gestures toward Palestinian rights. Actually what they did was consolidate Palestinians into scattered population centers whose territorial contiguity was broken up by Jewish settlements and Jew-only bypass roads, with Israel controlling the aquifers and agricultural land of the Jordan Valley. Israel, since its occupation of the West Bank began, has stolen almost all the water of the West Bank for its citizens and settlers, making it extremely difficult for Palestinians to get water, much less clean water. It was this state of affairs that was offered to the Palestinians as a "state" by Ehud Barak in 2000, notes Cook. For all the horrible screaming about Barak's "generous" offer and Arafat's satanic motives in rejecting it, the fact that Barak offered Arafat a "state" of isolated Bantustans was confirmed, according to Cook, by written guidelines that Ha'aretz, Israel's leading newspaper, reported was provided to Olmert before the Annapolis summit in 2007.

Other essays include an examination of the legal charges against Azmi Bishara and reflections on the fate of Palestinian Christians. In another essay, he travels along with a group of Israeli Jewish women who hang around Israeli checkpoints in an attempt to deter Israeli soldiers from engaging in their usual activities of humiliating, abusing and beating Palestinians at the checkpoints. He discusses the largely bogus scare about the "new anti-Semitism" allegedly raging in Europe (see his endnotes for elaboration on a few of the points).

The economic strangulation of the people of Gaza has intensified since 2006, what with the periodic military bombardment of civilian infrastructure and agricultural land, has reduced Gaza to the worst destitution levels of Sub-Saharan Africa.

Cook's at it again
Jonathan Cook, the anti-semite and professional Israel basher, has now written his third book containing nothing but vitriol, huge distortions, and a complete lack of context and objectivity in relation to Israel.

Indeed, the author appears to be a bit of a crank, being completely obsessed with Israel. Apart from the three books he has written about Israel and its conflict with the Palestinians/Arabs, he also has a website exclusively dedicated to bashing Israel. And if that's not enough, he even lives in Israel, ostensibly for the purpose of being able to see the situation first hand. Given that his entire life is devoted to Israel bashing, one wonders what the author would do if Israel didn't exist. Needless to say, for readers wanting so much as an ounce of objectivity, books by Cook are to be avoided like the plague.

The basic premise of this book is as follows: Despite the Palestinians accepting the UN partition of what was then British Mandate Palestine in 1947 by UN Resolution 181 and desiring to live peacefully side by side Israel in the two state solution, the wicked Israelis have systematically continued to occupy more and more Palestinian land, with Palestinian resistance being solely attributable to Israel continuing to expand beyond its internationally recognised borders.

What a load of tosh.

As anyone who knows anything about this dispute knows all too well, the Palestinians (not to mention the whole of the Arab world) violently rejected - and continue to reject - the creation of Israel, and ever since its creation have fought a ruthless terrorist war to destroy it. In the words of Hamas' Charter, which, as critics of Israel are forever pointing out, was democratically elected by Gazans:

'Israel exists and will continue to exist until Islam obliterates it...'.

Apparently, the likes of Cook expect Israel to do one of two things:
- Make peace with those who seek to 'obliterate' it
- Sit on its hands and allow Palestinians (not to mention other terrorist groups like Hizbollah) perpetrate suicide bombings and fire rockets with impunity

Strange as it may seem, Israel has chosen the third option, which is to take all action necessary to provide security to its citizens.

Inevitably, due to Israel's tiny size, this necessarily involves annexing Palestinian land, as quite simply, Israel is not defensible in its internationally recognised borders.

As Hizbollah and Hamas have both clearly demonstrated, even in its expanded borders, Israel is still highly susceptible to even primitive rockets. Now imagine Israel had smaller borders and Hamas/Hizbollah had more sophisticated rockets...

Then there's the fact that when Israel withdrew from occupied land (Southern Lebanon in 2000; Gaza in 2005), rather than gaining peace, it had rockets fired at it from the very land from which it had withdrawn. Which makes it rather obvious why Israel is so loathe to withdraw from the West Bank.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not suggesting that Israel should continue to expand its settlements in the West Bank. To the contrary, I am opposed to such a policy. However, there are clear security based reasons, albeit not recognised by international law, why Israel has occupied and built settlements in the West Bank.

And speaking of international law, what right do the Palestinians and critics of Israel have to invoke international law when they reject the most fundamental principle of international law governing the Israel-Palestine conflict, namely, Israel's right to exist?

The reality is that there can never be a two state solution. The only practical hope of ending this tragic conflict is the three state solution, entailing Gaza becoming part of Egypt, and the West Bank, or part thereof, becoming part of Jordan.

Jonathan: May I make a suggestion? Having flogged to death the topic of Israel and its relationship with the Palestinians/Arabs, I have a suggestion for the topic of your next book. I recommend you write a book about how the Jews are behind the financial crisis currently sweeping the world. There are two clear reasons why the Jews had the motive to bring about the collapse of the world's economy:
- Reduce the power of Iran through decimating the oil price
- Cause Western leaders (Barak Obama in particular) to focus their time and energies on their economies rather than devoting time to the Israel-Palestine conflict

Surely you have noticed the incredible coincidence that as soon as it appeared that Obama - believed by many to be reasonably symapthetic to the Palestinian cause - was likely to be elected in late 2008, the financial crisis suddenly moved into overdrive. And what caused the crisis to reach these new depths? The sudden collapse of Lehman Brothers, a Wall Street investment bank with significant Jewish ownership and control. Hardly a coincidence.

So there we have it, means, motive, and opportunity. Not to mention timing. Surely enough material for your highly fertile mind to weave together a compelling story.

Of course, you should make absolutely no mention of all the non-Jewish bankers who were heavily involved in bringing about the financial crisis. Nor mention the Jewish bankers who carefully avoided the worst of the subprime crisis (Goldman Sachs). Nor should you make any mention of the fact that Jews have lost their jobs/businesses/fortunes in the same proportion as everyone else. In writing the book, you should continue your well established form of argument whereby any and all facts - irrespective of how strongly they contradict your views - are completely ignored.

As we know, the Jews have been blamed for numerous recessions/depressions in the past, so why should this one be any different? The only difference on this occasion is the motive, as noted above.

May I also suggest that before writing this book, first carefully read the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, to ensure you incorporate all of its key themes. Then again, you are probably already extremely familar with the Protocols.

Essential book, outrageously overpriced in the US
This book is the first to focus on an essential aspect of Israel's conduct of its nearly 42 year brutal occupation of the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and Gaza. One cannot comprehend Israel's behavior toward the Palestinian people it holds under its control without the information in this book. What a shame, then, that it is so outrageously overpriced in the United States.

I buy the great majority of my books from Amazon, but in this case I paid about one third the Amazon price by ordering the book from a UK seller via abebooks.com. I strongly recommend this book, but I do not recommend buying it from a U.S. source. ... Read more

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For most of the twentieth century, considered opinion in the United States regarding Palestine has favored the inherent right of Jews to exist in the Holy Land. That Palestinians, as a native population, could claim the same right has been largely ignored. Kathleen Christison's controversial new book shows how the endurance of such assumptions, along with America's singular focus on Israel and general ignorance of the Palestinian point of view, has impeded a resolution to the Arab-Israeli conflict.

Christison begins with the derogatory images of Arabs purveyed by Western travelers to the Middle East in the nineteenth century, including Mark Twain, who wrote that Palestine's inhabitants were "abject beggars by nature, instinct, and education." She demonstrates other elements that have influenced U.S. policymakers: American religious attitudes toward the Holy Land that legitimize the Jewish presence; sympathy for Jews derived from the Holocaust; a sense of cultural identity wherein Israelis are "like us" and Arabs distant aliens. She makes a forceful case that decades of negative portrayals of Palestinians have distorted U.S. policy, making it virtually impossible to promote resolutions based on equality and reciprocity between Palestinians and Israelis.

Christison also challenges prevalent media images and emphasizes the importance of terminology: Two examples are the designation of who is a "terrorist" and the imposition of place names (which can pass judgment on ownership).

Christison's thoughtful book raises a final disturbing question: If a broader frame of reference on the Palestinian-Israeli conflict had been employed, allowing a less warped public discourse, might not years of warfare have been avoided and steps toward peace achieved much earlier? ... Read more

Customer Reviews (13)

fascinating memoir of a Palestinian
For an overall view of exactly what happened, read an excellent first-hand account of a moderate Palestinian.

Excellent Source
Excellent source for anyone who would like to learn more & know the other side of the Palestinian / Israeli conflict.

Amazing prospective, one of a kind
This book gave me a clear idea how in general Westerners (and especially Americans) are biased when it comes to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. The central concept of this book in my opinion is psychological, the authors proves that Westerns are already predisposed to be pro-Israeli which they called The Frame of Reference. In a nutshell, the frame of reference is powerful and once established in the human brain it is very hard to extract. Westerners have been highly affected by Bible and the Holocaust, which predates the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, and because of that an entrenched frame of mind have been well established.

Beside this important point the authors gave careful analysis to all American presidents since FDR with regard to this conflict.


Well Done, amazing analysis.

Why pay for Arab propaganda when you can get it for free?
I am sick and tired to read recycled Arab propaganda that has nothing to do with reality. If you can still cope with it - buythe book.

Excellent.. and yes, the truth hurts
To those who call it anti-semitic, Arabs are semitic too, so drop it.. it's getting old. Everytime a book shows the truth about Israeli aggression against Palestinians it is called anti-semitic, untrue, and bias. Go there and see for yourself.

The only way to peace in the Middle East is through peace between Palestinians and Israelis and this book shows a side that no one wants to hear. ... Read more

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Written by an international and interdisciplinary team of distinguished scholars, The Oxford Handbook of Jewish Daily Life in Roman Palestineis an indispensable reference compendium on the day-to-day lives of Jews in the land of Israel in Roman times. Ranging from subjects such as clothing and domestic architecture to food and meals, labour and trade, and leisure time activities, the volume covers all the major themes in an encompassing yet easily accessible way. Individual chapters introduce the reader to the current state of research on particular aspects of ancient Jewish everyday life - research which has been greatly enriched by critical methodological approaches to rabbinic texts, and by the growing interest of archaeologists in investigating the lives of ordinary people. Detailed bibliographies inspire further engagement by enabling readers to pursue their own lines of enquiry.The Handbookwill prove to be an invaluable reference work andtool for all students and scholars of ancient Judaism, rabbinic literature, Roman provincial history and culture, and of ancient Christianity. ... Read more

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Hagith Sivan offers an unconventional study of one corner of the Roman Empire in late antiquity, weaving around the theme of conflict strands of distinct histories, and of peoples and places, highlighting Palestine's polyethnicity, and cultural, topographical, architectural, and religious diversity. During the period 300-650 CE the fortunes of the 'east' and the 'west' were intimately linked. Thousands of westerners in the guise of pilgrims, pious monks, soldiers, and civilians flocked to what became a Christian holy land. This is the era that witnessed the transformation of Jerusalem from a sleepy Roman town built on the ruins of spectacular Herodian Jerusalem into an international centre of Christianity and ultimately into a centre of Islamic worship. It was also a period of unparalleled prosperity for the frontier zones, and a time when religious experts were actively engaged in guiding their communities while contesting each other's rights to the Bible and its interpretation. ... Read more

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Customer Reviews (2)

a self-bio of Abu Sharif
I have never felt the need to publish any kind of criticism of books I read. But knowing how such a book may affect the perception in the west about the ME and specifically the Palestinian cause, i thought I should make these comments:

1. The book is not a reliable source for historic information. Historic facts are not accurate.

2. Its about Abu Sharif's LEADING AND EFFECTIVE ROLE IN PLO HISTORY!! It omits the important roles of many PLO leaders (including those who were more effective or influential). The name of Arafat on the cover is also misleading, as Arafat is mentioned mostly in events where the author was present

3. It also completely ignores roles of Arab countries affecting the events and even the decision making within the PLO (Example Jordan's role in Madrid: since this book claims that it is about the struggle towards the peaceful resolution of the Palestinian cause one cannot ignore the role of Jordan or the late King Hussein)

4. The book does not provide any serious details or in-depth analysis, as I can sum it up about the brief of the author's life story

I admit i started reading this book because of the title, and was never an admirer of the author. If you know the history then it may not be a bad book. But surely it is not a reliable source to know the history of the Palestinian struggle, the PLO or Arafat. I would have give in it a 3-4 stars if the tile was replaced with "MY History by .."

Worth Reading, but lacks much details
I am a Palestinian and although I am young enough to have NOT lived through many of the stages of Arafat's life and PLO's history, I have done a fair amount of reading, I am politically active for the cause of my people and I am always engaging in historical, political, analytical and current-news and events discussions with older friends who lived some of the events and even were in Lebanon during the Israeli invasion or in Al-Karama in Jordan (Black September).

The book is accurate and is fair in presenting Arafat's strength and weaknesses as well as mistakes and genius.

However, it lacks a lot of in depth details about critical historical events especially when the PLO was in Lebanon.

Finally, the book is about Bassam Abu Sharif as the focal point of just about every event that took place in the PLO's and in some regards in Arafat's life.Essentially you're reading Bassam's biography and self-gloating -- something I didn't care for much.

The last three chapters are important reading since they reflect true events involving Mr. Abu Sharif until the death of our beloved symbol of the Palestinian struggle, Abu Ammar -- Yasser Arafat.

Overall a good complimentary book to others such as (in Arabic) "Arafat, the difficult number".

/T
... Read more

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German pioneers who developed settlements and businesses in Palestine - revolutionising agricultural production during late 19th and early 20th centuries. Their ventures contributed significantly to the modernisation of Palestine and ultimately Israel. ... Read more

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From Desert Sands to Golden Oranges
As a descendant of the Templer movement, I found this book to contain a wealth of information that I was not familiar with.It is an outstanding work and will fascinate and astound, not only those familiar with the German Templers, but all who will wish to learn of the hardships and suffering of this incredible group of dedicated people. ... Read more

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After the 1993 Oslo Accords people across the world anticipated the onset of peace and an end to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.For Israelis, the Accords generated massive economic growth and a sense of security.For Palestinians in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, they led to a dramatic rise in poverty and unemployment due to a complex array of closures, militarized checkpoints, and bypass roads, and a vast expansion of the settlement project that fractured Palestinian territories and communities.In 2000 popular Palestinian rage with the new shape of the Israeli occupation erupted in a second uprising or intifada.

In this volume, prominent scholars and journalists examine the dramatic political changes in Palestine and Israel from the Oslo Accords through the second intifada and the death of Yasser Arafat.Their essays address the political economy of the Oslo process, social and political changes in Palestine and Israel, United States foreign policy, social movements and political activism, and the interplay between cultural and political-economic processes.The volume also includes documents, maps, poetry, and graphic art.

Contributors:Ammiel Alcalay, Lori A. Allen, Marwan Barghouti, Joel Beinin, Robert Blecher, Elliott Colla, Catherine Cook, Jonathan Cook, Richard Falk, Khaled Furani, Rita Giacaman, Lisa Hajjar, Jeff Halper, Rema Hammami, Sari Hanafi,Adam Hanieh, Islah Jad, Penny Johnson, Rela Mazali, Emma C. Murphy, Issam Nassar, Ilan Pappé, Yoav Peled, Mouin Rabbani, Shira Robinson, Sara Roy, Rosemary Sayigh, Charmaine Seitz, Adam Shatz, Rebecca L. Stein, Gary Sussman, Salim Tamari, David Tartakover, Graham Usher, Sharif Waked, and Oren Yiftachel ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

Very dishonest book
Very dishonest book
This book full of bigotry & lies. Even hard to read it to the end...

Even-handed
Reveals without passion how the "no-matter-what" variety of support for Israel causes immense human suffering.
This book should be required reading for anyone who equates disagreement with the genocidal policies of Israel with anti-Semitism.

A good multilayered discussion of the current situation
This book is a collection of assays about the current situation in Israel/ Palestine - after the rise of the right wing in both elections, the disengagement and The Wall. I found many of the assays extremely useful: assays dealing with women in Palestine, with the economic meanings of shifting occupation methods, the Matrix of control and ethnic separation in the west bank, citizenship and national minority rights within the state of Israel... As an Israeli activist teaching about the Israeli Palestinian Conflict, I found this book highly useful in my work.

Extreme Fascist Propaganda
I had to keep reminding myself that this book is a recent work.And that it was not written in, say, Berlin in 1942. The book is indeed propaganda against human rights.Nowhere in this volume did I see any suggestion that there ought to be a place in the world for human rights for mere Jews.I wonder if the authors would permit human rights for, say, Pagans?

Israel is awfully land-poor.But the Jews decided to settle for the UN partition, which gave them rather little land, preferring that to nothing.Beinin and Stein challenge this, noting that while Jews (who had been to a great extent prevented from moving to the Levant) were only about one-third of the population of the Mandate in 1947, they were granted 55% of the land.And that's why the Arabs rejected the UN proposal!Get real.Would the Arabs have accepted the proposal had they obtained the Negev rather than the Jews?Of course not.

The authors do not like the Jewish settlements in the West Bank.They can't stand it when Jews defend themselves against Arab aggression, implying that self-defence is merely a sly Jewish trick.Golly, one has to wonder what these writers will be saying if the Arabs ever make the mistake of fighting folks other than Jews.

There's also plenty of love for thugs such as Arafat, and for those who took over the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem.As well as for the thugs of Jenin.Listen to this:

"The events in Jenin refugee camp in April 2002 are another striking example of the international community's readiness to turn a blind eye to Israel's brutal excesses."

It would be hard to write a more dishonest sentence than the one I just quoted.Israel was almost superhuman in its willingness to lose soldiers in order to avoid unnecessary Arab civilian casualties.And it was blamed for such casualties anyway, as the media greatly exaggerated the number of deaths there.

There are boasts that the International Criminal Court does not like the Israeli separation barrier.Well, what is next?Boasts about Germany's anti-Jewish laws of the 1930s?A prayer that international law will give the Ku Klux Klan the right to murder Blacks?And there are comments about the idea that there ought to be a "binational state" in the Levant (presumably one that will get rid of human rights for Jews there).That sounds somewhat reactionary to me.Again, I have to wonder what is next, perhaps a call to reinstitute slavery for Blacks?

This book was written by fellow humans, that's true, and it makes me ashamed to be a human being.
... Read more

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This is an EXACT reproduction of a book published before 1923. This IS NOT an OCR'd book with strange characters, introduced typographical errors, and jumbled words.This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process. We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide. We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book. ... Read more

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This volume is produced from digital images created through the University of Michigan University Library's preservation reformatting program. The Library seeks to preserve the intellectual content of items in a manner that facilitates and promotes a variety of uses. The digital reformatting process results in an electronic version of the text that can both be accessed online and used to create new print copies. This book and thousands of others can be found in the digital collections of the University of Michigan Library. The University Library also understands and values the utility of print, and makes reprints available through its Scholarly Publishing Office. ... Read more

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There is no single history of the development of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. There are two. The Israeli historical narrative speaks of Zionism as the Jewish national movement, of building a refuge from persecution, and of national regeneration. The Palestinian narrative speaks of invasion, expulsion, and oppression. No wonder peace remains elusive. This volume attempts to present both histories with parallel narratives of key points in the 19th and 20th centuries to 1948. The histories are presented by 14 Israeli and Palestinian experts, joined by other historians, journalists, and activists, who then discuss the differences and similarities between their accounts. By creating an appreciation, understanding, and respect for the "other," the first steps can be made to foster a shared history of a shared land. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

So fast, so great!
Thank you so much for the super fast shipping, and plus, the book looks so new!!!Great deal...Will definitely shop with you again! :)

Shared Histories: Superb execution of an important concept
"Shared Histories" is a bold experiment that has achieved notable success. It has begun the process of producing a common understanding of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. If we cannot all agree on the interpretation, we must at least all be cognizant of the interpretations of different sides, and we must be able to agree on the bare facts. The authors initiated what is essentially a dialogue project between Israeli and Palestinian historians. This book is the result of that dialogue.

If you have read more than one account of the history of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, you know that it is virtually impossible to get an impartial account of any event or an impartial jury regarding any question in that conflict. The making of history is skewed not only by the inevitable honest personal biases, but often by conscious attempts to "spin" events in order to satisfy preconceived ideological notions. Two narratives inevitably were generated among two peoples, and an "industry" supporting and amplifying each of those narratives was generated to perpetuate and enlarge the differences. This situation does not aid in our understanding. More important, it is intended to vindicate one or the other side, and is not conducive to the convergence toward elements of a common perception needed as the basis for peace.

This book, and the process it has initiated, can go a long way to remedying the problem. Most of the major issues separating Israel Zionist and Arab Palestinian percepts of the genesis of the conflict are covered. Participants from both sides present and discuss their views of demographic changes and immigration, the evolution of Zionism and of the Palestinian Arab movement, the 1948 War of Independence, refugee question and more. They have created a genuine intellectual document in which working historians present their views and are challenged by their peers.

If you are seriously interested in understanding the history of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and are not afraid of slaughtering some ideological pet roosters and sacred cows, you need to read this book.

... Read more

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Drawn from the historical record and the author's family letters and photographs, this military history follows the 5th Battalion of the Suffolk regiment from England to Syria and to the end of the war. ... Read more

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British discourse during the Mandate, with its unremitting convergence on the problematic ‘native question’, and which rested on racial and cultural theories and presumptions, as well as on certain givens drawn from the British class system, has been taken for granted by historians. The validity of cultural representations as pronounced within official correspondence and colonial laws and regulations, as well as within the private papers of colonial officials, survives more or less intact. There are features of colonialism additional to economic and political power, which are glaring yet have escaped examination, which carried cultural weight and had cultural implications and which negatively transformed native society. This was inevitable. But what is less inevitable is the subsequent collusion of historians in this, a (neo-) colonial dynamic. The continued collusion of modern historians with racial and cultural notions concerning the rationale of European rule in Palestine has postcolonial implications. It drags these old notions into the present where their iniquitous barbarity continues to manifest. This study identifies the symbolism of British officials’ discourse and intertwines it with the symbolism and imagery of the natives’ own discourse (from oral interviews and private family papers). At all times, it remains allied to those writers, philosophers and chroniclers whose central preoccupation is to agitate and challenge authority. This, then, is a return to the old school, a revisiting of the optimistic, vibrant rhetoric of those radicals who continue to inspire post and anti-colonial thinking. In order to dismantle, and to undo and unwrite, A Discourse on Domination in Mandate Palestine holds a mirror up to the language of the Mandatory by counteracting it with its own integrally oppositional discourse and a provocative rhetoric.